by

What Electronics Should You Bring To Ecuador (Part Two)

Working on the assumption that you have room in your suitcases and that electronics are 30-40% higher I would bring the following:

Camera: Digital cameras are super cheap in the United States.  I have two cameras in Cuenca.  I have a Samsung ultra compact that I purchased in Costco for $130 two years ago . I take 80% of my photos with that camera. Why?  Good to Very good results and it doesn’t draw attention in the middle of a busy street.  The other camera is a Nikon D80 (looks expensive) DSLR.  I only use this camera when I am with another person or I am on a trip with a lot of other people.  I just think it’s good street smarts not to draw attention to yourself and your vunerable when changing lenses.  The Samsung also takes fair to good videos.

Camcorder: Of course this recommendation is for people who want to take videos.  I just purchased a Canon  HF R20 HD Camcorder that fits in the palm of my hand. Very inexpensive. Great videos recorded on a very inexpensive SD chip and again it does not bring attention from outsiders.

Router: Internet service is our lifeline to our children, grandchildren and friends. I have two Internet services. Total monthly charge $42. One service came with a router and the other didn’t.  If you have a good router. Bring it.

Hard Drives.  A year ago I would have said bring them down.  Now with all the free Cloud services( File storage)  around I would say “save the space”. I have a very small 500 gb Seagate Drive.  It works great.

T.V’s Blu-Ray DVD Players etc.  Again this is a storage conern. I purchased a Samsung 40 inch LED HDTV for about $150 more than in the US. It helps to be fluent in Spanish or have an assertive translator to get the best deal. I purchased a great LG Blu-Ray player for just $15 more than in the U.S.

Miscellaneous: Cables, SD Cards, Surge Protectors etc. Bring them . A 4 ft HDMI cable (connection from your device to a HDTV) cost $18 compared to about $6 in the U.S.  The same is true of of memory cards and surge protectors.

I look forward to discussion and questions on other electronic items to bring with you on your trip to Cuenca.

 

18 thoughts on “What Electronics Should You Bring To Ecuador (Part Two)”

  1. How fast and reliable are your internet connections? From reading a lot of blogs, it seems like it almost depends on your part of town or even the building you are in.

    If they are fast and reasonably reliable cloud storage of one sort or another would be great. On the other hand, the thought up uploading a bajillion photos and videos over a slow or unreliable connection isn’t very comforting.

    Reply

    • Yes, your Internet connection depends on many factors. As this blog grows I’ll be adding more reviews on Intenet connectivity. For example my condo is 2 years old and does not have Cable connectivity which has faster download speeds. I have worked around this issue by having 2 services. Total cost is $42 and I keep one service free for Skype and Apple TV. Not as fast as the U.S. but works for me.

      Reply

  2. Have you brought in more than 2 electronic devices at a time? I have heard that there is a limit on how many you’re allowed, but I don’t know how strictly that is enforced.

    Reply

  3. Pingback: Morning Update – Saturday, March 3, 2012 « South of Zero

  5. Hi Lenny,

    Some of the new cameras, like the Panasonic GH, G, GF, and GX series, and the Olympus Pen and OMD series, do professional quality video in addition to stills, and they are relatively small and inexpensive. I plan to go that route in June, when my wife and I return to Ecuador.

    In response to Mary Jo Burke, I think the rule is that you are only allowed to have two items of each type of thing, in other words, 2 ipods, 2 laptops, 2 cameras, etc. If I am wrong, will somebody please correct me on that? Because that is how I plan on approaching things in June… Anyway, customs is concerned with resellers avoiding the tariff that they need to pay to import goods into Ecuador for resale, so if you enter with a suitcase full of new items in packages, you are likely to have to answer some questions… If you are just a regular person, it will probably be pretty easy to convince them of that.

    Reply

  6. Hola Lenny;

    I have a question: Like you, I am a Mac person, I have a 21.5″ iMac, a Macbook, IPad 2, One Airport Express and one Airport extreme, round version. Comcast is my ISP, so I don’t own a router. I do have a Roku HD. What would the Apple TV add to the mix? I was happy to hear about your local electronic purchases, now I can sell my 50″ Samsung TV and BluRay dvd player.

    Reply

  7. Regarding hard drives, I would spend a little more and get a solid state drive. They are faster, and prices on SSD’s have come down a lot. Regular hard drives are expensive nowadays because flooding last year in Thailand put a lot of manufacturing facilities out of commission. Ideally you would want an SSD for the boot drive and a large capacity external hard drive for storage.

    Reply

Leave a comment